Transition matrices

Having struggled with transition matrices over the summer holidays I attended the ASCL Leadership of Data Conference. Again, TMs were commonly referenced, if not universally understood. TMs were this weekends learning project.

So, what are TMs? A transition matrix is a grid that displays how many pupils in a particular subject that began with a certain KS2 sub-level, finished with a certain GCSE grade. You can find these published in RAISEonline, in the Library, and are presented at a national level with the DfE and Ofsted producing (TMs) for top 30 subjects.

As David Blow writes and explained, from a school perspective, TMs are enormously powerful because

school improvement within a school is often managed through a subject / Dept basis, and then down to the individual teacher  / class in a subject. To have a method of calculating and displaying Value-Added in this grid format is an extremely useful starting point for the conversations about what can be learnt from the data.

David went onto explain how this data can be the frame improvement conversations, starting with what a teacher or department should have achieve if results were inline with national outcomes, and then compare that with the actual results.

David went onto explain that it could be the starter for more in depth conversations;

• CONSOLIDATE?: To consolidate specific good practice of…. contributing to these attainment grades by….
• MODULE RESULTS?: To further investigate differences in module results contributing to these attainment grades by …
• RESITS?: To further investigate opportunities to resit assessments which contribute to these attainment grades by …
• EXAM MARKING?: To further investigate issues in exam marking contributing to these attainment grades by …
• MODERATION?: To further investigate issues in internal/external moderation contributing to these attainment grades by
• TEACHING?: To further investigate teaching approaches contributing to these attainment grades by …
• REVISION?: To further investigate revision support contributing to these attainment grades by …
• ATTENDANCE?: To further investigate issues of attendance contributing to these attainment grades by …
• BEHAVIOUR?: To further investigate issues of behaviour contributing to these attainment grades by …
• OTHER?: To further investigate other factors in contributing to these attainment grades by …

Now that is enough for me to lead right now. TMs are definitely a powerful, certainly revealing however IMHO it is the lines of enquiry they open up, that will have to greatest impact. The format David has created works, however I hope to engage with a colleague to see if there is a more useable format, possibly web-based format. Now, should you be a headteacher, should you ever need a scientific data, UI designer that understands schools, Dan Humpherson (@MoodleDan) is your man.

The content here is adapted from ‘ASCL Technical Guide for Value-Added and other progress measures in RAISEonline and Performance Tables’ and the generous support and conversation from David Blow – Headteacher at The Ashcombe School.